Page 24 of Petals and Plot Twists
“I’ll explain later, but we don’t have much time.”
He pulls his door closed behind him and steps into the hall. “You just need me to stand here?”
“Probably,” I say. “Maybe swing a punch if it comes to that.”
“Peter,” Archer says. “What are you?—”
“They’re coming!” I say, cutting him off just as Bear and Sophie emerge from the back stairwell and start down the hall. Sophie’s smile is more of a grimace and her eyes are wide as we make eye contact.
Without really thinking about the consequences, I step into their path. “Sophie, can we talk a second?” I say, voice sure and commanding. At least, what I hope is commanding.
She tosses a glance over at Bear. “Um, okay,” she says.
“I’ve been thinking a lot, and I’m just going to come right out and say it.” I take a deep breath. “I miss you, pookie pie.”
Her eyes widen, and I see the threat of laughter in her expression, but she doesn’t break. “You do?”
“I really do,” I say. “And when I brought this”—my eyes dart over to Bear—“really handsome man up to meet you, it finally clicked that I never should have broken up with you. I’m still in love with you. I think I’ll love you until the day I die.”
My skin prickles with awareness as those last words leave my mouth, their truth resonating a little too much.
Sophie takes a step forward. “I love you too, honey cakes.”
Ohhhh, I am not going to laugh.I won’t. I can’t. But seriously. Honey cakes? I press my lips together and clear my throat to kill the threatening laughter, then open my arms. “Come back to me?” I look right at her. “Sugar boo boo bear?”
She runs to cover the distance between us and tosses herself into my arms. I wrap her in an enormous hug, one I hope is big enough to cover her shaking shoulders. Maybe Bear will think she’s crying instead of laughing?
I lift a hand to the back of her head and bend down, my lips close to her ear. “You owe me for this,” I whisper, and her grip around my waist tightens.
When I look up, Bear is approaching, his face solemn. When he reaches us, he lifts his hands, placing one on Sophie’s back and one on mine. “I bless this union,” he says, his deep voice serious. “You belong together.” Then he turns, steps around us, and walks down the grand staircase.
Sophie and I stay frozen in our embrace for a long moment. If we move, we’ll start to laugh, and there’s no way we’re doing that until we’re sure Bear is out of the building.
“I can go now, right?” Archer says from behind me.
I look over my shoulder. “Yes. Thank you. I appreciate your presence.”
“I’m glad that’s all that was needed,” he says. “I would not have punched that guy for you.” He turns toward his apartment, but then he stops and looks back. “I would have punched him for Sophie.” Then he disappears inside.
Sophie leans back and looks up at me. “Sugar boo boo bear?”
I grin. “I was under duress. It’s the best I could come up with. And you’re one to talk, honey cakes.”
Sophie finally gives into her laughter, her arms falling away from my waist as she practically doubles over. I’m not far behind her, and soon we’re laughing so hard, tears run down both our faces.
“What happened?” I ask. “Obviously the flower didn’t bloom.”
“Definitely not,” she says. “But when I tried to extract myself from the date, he said something very weird about trusting the destination, then he mentioned his snake?—”
“Please tell me that was not a euphemism.”
“No, he has an actual snake,” she says. “A python. She’s the lockscreen photo on his cell phone.”
“I guess the tattoo makes sense, then,” I say.
“I guess I just got scared,” she says. “I didn’t want to make him mad. But maybe my worry was needless. He seemed kinda sweet at the end.”
“That was definitely not how I thought things were going to go,” I say. “Pookie pie.”
